Lila Danisa

I have always wondered what happens to the 1% of the germs that don't get "cleaned" by hygiene products. And this book somehow answer those question. However, the ending wasn't what I expected it would be. I didn't know if it's scientifically correct, but for me the answer of that 1% germs was not satisfying. I read this book to my 5 years old son and he was also questioning the ending. The ending led us to some research regarding that matter. It was actually fun that this book brought critical mind on us.

Though the book presented real name illustrator, I found the style of the illustrations here so much like an AI-generated illustrations. I hope I am wrong. To be honest, we (my son and I) didn't like the illustrations. They were not in our like-styles illustrations. Completely personal tho. I believe many might be fan of that kind of style.

What my son loved the most from this book was to spot Onna on each page. Who's Onna? You need to pick up this book to know.

Thank you to Grant Kurzman and NetGalley for the ARC.

p.s When I read the author's last name, my son said his name fit the book. I needed a minute to understand what he meant by that. He rolled his eyes and said Kurzman sounds like "kuman". Indonesian word for germ. And I laughed for like a minute. What a smart boy!

3,75 rounded-up to 4 stars!

Some of the poems in this book radiated the rage of unfairness in corrupt society and I loved it so much. Unfortunately resonate deeply with the currently chaotic situation in my country.

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Lesser men are getting more, while the wiser men are ignored.

This is the way of the world, said by those who rigged it.

~ 68%

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Almost all religion-related poems were dark. I understand that those poems were personal experience the poet have/had but I still found them dark and didn't know how to take in.

Overall I enjoyed this poems collection because mostly the poems were easy to read and understand. All the poems were in rhymes which help me to grasp the underlying meanings.

Thank you to Chaz Holesworth and NetGalley for the ARC.

Love this book so much! So relatable with me and my son because I have been read him books since he still a fetus inside my womb. Our reading time everyday is always a fun time. Never fail. Now he is 5 years old and can read books mostly by himself. The discussions we have about books become boarden up and amusing. I learn so much from the books I read to him and his follow-up questions. And this book perfectly portrayed that bounding through books between me and my son.

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"It’s okay when we disagree! We can tell each other why."

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The illustrations were also perfect to highlight the short passages. They were colorful and full of imagination. Again, perfect illustration to describe the magic of reading books. Though my son was kinda disappointed when there is no hijabi representation in the illustrations. He said he wanted to see me (yes, I am a hijabi) in the book he likes, especially when the book is about book and reading. One of our favorite daily activities. That's why there is a missing half-star in the rating.

Aside from that minor bump, we (my son and I) love this book so much. As I write this review, it's still in our reread shelf.

Thank you to Karolyn Wallace, Mission Point Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.

I really tried to understand this poetry book. I even read some of the poems more than once. Unfortunately most of them didn't resonate with me. I could pretend that at the end of the book I understand the overall meaning of the poems within this collection but I really couldn't. However some lines in some poems kinda hit hard because how relatable those were with the real life situation, even in country so far from the US.

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If our county were any bigger than a sitcom set, they would all herd lemminglike into the rough spun monochrome of gas stations, outlet malls, & plyboard huts where you can rent VHS tapes rewound by mice & silverfish. ~61%

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I am sure it's 100% me problem why this book is not for me. I believe many people would find this book intriguing.

Nevertheless thank you to Ian Hall, EastOver Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.

The story went from 0 to 100 so freaking fast! Everything happened in the span of 2 weeks max. I felt like I was running the entire time reading this book because the plots (?) were packed one after another.

I loved Adriano's parents book (Angelo and Tori) so much. To this day it still in my emotional support reread shelf. This book's blurb was giving the same vibe with their book and it was intriguing me to read. While some details were the same with Angelo's book, the storylines were fully(ish) different. Both Angelo and Adriano were having instalove with their women but Adriano leveled it up with instaobsessed too.

While both Tori and Laurie went through abusive life phase, I liked Tori more than Laurie. I am sorry but Laurie was so doormat. I hated that she couldn't stand for herself. I also felt like her character was inconsistent. One moment she was meek, another moment she was speaking whatever in her mind freely.

For me Angelo and Tori book is still way better than Adriano and Laurie book.

There were also so many names thrown out in this book. Understandable since this is the 9th book in the series. Personally it didn't bother my reading experience and I think it's safe to say that this book is truly standalone despite being book nine in long series.

3,75 stars rounded-up to 4 stars!

This book has two parts. The first part is for kids that just start to learn how to read. Easily to read with very simple vocabularies. My 5 years old son could read the first part 90% by himself. He also could comprehend the story by asking me parts where he didn't understand when he was reading it. The second part is for bigger kids who already can read good. The descriptions are more advanced than the first part. Though the overall story is still the same. My son could read 50% of the second part by himself though his comprehension was low due to more words used and most likely were confusing for him.

The story was simple. About Rhea got lost in the jungle and his new friend Crowley the crow. The story highlighted in friendship, to be brave, and trust yourself.

My only problem was the AI generated illustrations. I appreciate the author openly stated that in book info section though.

Thank you to G.D Griffiths and NetGalley for the ARC.

That was so cute. Goose and her big sister were so cute 😍😍

My son was not relate much with this book since he was the only child (for now) but he enjoyed this book. He could read 80 to 90% of the book by himself. He also could comprehend the words and over all story by the helps of the illustrations. The illustrations were so lively and lovely just like the characters presented.

I personally loved how this book embraced the differences between siblings. This book reminded me of how different my sister and I when we were kids (until now even) but I also remember how she loved me despite our personality differences.

Thank you to Alyssa Capucilli, Astra Publishing House, Hippo Park, and NetGalley for the ARC.

“A lot of people think a home is composed of walls and a roof where you live. A structure that you fill with belongings and memories. But it’s more than that. It’s who’s inside those walls. It’s a place where you’re seen without needing to explain yourself. A place where you can breathe and your flaws don’t need to be hidden. It’s where you don’t have to pretend. You can just… be.”

Only 4% into the book and those beautiful lines already knocked me out. I knew I would love this book. The story of Scottie (and Tucker) "discovering" home was so heartwarming and touching.

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“home isn’t just about the structure. It’s less about where you live, and more about where you feel whole.”

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The setup of reality/variety TV show was actually refreshing for me. The "necessary" fake relationship between Scottie and Tucker was also good addition. I loved their banters and how they tried so hard to deny their chemistry.

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"She’s supposed to be my fake girlfriend, not the reason I forget how to breathe."

- Tucker, 36% of the book and still "deny" Scottie

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I loved how the love story between Scottie and Tucker unfolded. I loved how they could being themselves. I loved they were each other home. However, I felt like the plot was being dragged a bit much. I know that Tucker had his pasts dangling around him and affected him, but I personally felt like he was too avoidance with it. He was also not that good in communication. He ran away many times from Scottie. I was glad that Scottie could barrel and straightforward to him.

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“I’ve spent my whole life teaching myself how to survive on my own and not relying on anyone else. And yet somehow, you walked in without asking, without forcing anything, and now you’re everywhere.” I shake my head, almost laughing at myself. “I hear your voice in my head before I go to sleep. I hear your laughter echo in the walls of every room I’m in, no matter where it is. You’re the person I want to run to.”

- Tucker, 82% of the book finally made sense.

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I also have problem on how rush the ending was. I thought there would be more explanation in details on how Scottie and her mother relationship gonna be. I already prepared for my tear to fall due to mother-daughter deep conversation. Instead, the ending was just brief explanation on everything that had happened. Kinda anticlimactic to be honest.

In Poppy and Dallas book, I said Nan was my favorite. And not surprise, Nan is still my favorite in here. Nan was typical meddling old woman and I loved her for that. Can't wait to see what Nan would do in Lily's book, the next (and possibly the last) book in this series.

Thank you to Jenn McMahon and Luna Literary Management for the ARC.

What a great book to teach little ones about good oral hygiene! What make it even better was the using of dinosaurs terms which most kids like (or scared) and made it easy to understand, at least for my 5 years old son.

The storyline and the words used in this book were easy and fun to read. My son especially loved the adapted names of the dinosaurs that suit perfectly with the importance of brushing your teeth and the analogy of go to the dentist as catching those dinosaurs (or dinomites) was also so creative.

The last time my son went to the dentist (in January 2026) he still uncomfortable sitting by himself, but this book made him excited to sit by himself next time he has dentist appointment (July 2026).

Thank you to Nat Gibson, Gibaria Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Though the title is "The Boy Who Asks a Gazillion Whys", the main focus discussed in this book was about gravitation. Which was completely fine but I just thought the book would answer some "whys" kids frequently asked, especially STEM related.

The analogy of gravity giving us hug was surely excellent. My son understood it better than any explanations he had heard about gravity before.

However, to be frankly honest, we (my son and I) were not the fans of the illustrations. They were more like animation and kinda overwhelming for our eyes.

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"Not every question has an answer yet. That's why we need curious minds like yours."

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This book smoothly encourages the (young) readers to keep asking questions, no matter how silly they may sound. This point was also what I adored the most from this book. I want my son to keep his curiosity and freely ask questions like the boy(s) in here.

Thank you to Barbara Pinke and NetGalley for the ARC.

LOL that was funny! Randomly funny to be exact 😅🤣

The story and the characters were so random. They were effortlessly and innocently funny. Weird but still make sense. I really can't explain it, but the randomness in this book was somehow make sense.

The illustrations were super cute. I don't know nothing about illustration styles but this one reminded me of doodles. Street art doodles to be specific.

Personally I think that the black, pink, and white as the only colors in the illustrations were so refreshing. Fit perfectly with the absurb-ness of the story and the characters too.

When I finished reading this book the first time, I thought that this book was safe for my 5 years old son. So I read this book to him and he also liked this book. He found the story funny too. At the end of the story, he said that maybe he also has wolves within him like Jake. He wants to control those wolves so it wouldn't explode and hurt someone else.

Thank you to Michael Grover, Astra Publishing House, TOON Books, and NetGalley for the ARC.

To be really honest, I needed to reread this book like 3 times and looked for underlying meanings and messages before I read this book to my 5 years old son. Because this book was so metaphorical with deep messages. I am 31 years old woman was having hard time to decipher the underlying contexts, really curious how 5 to 8 years old take on this book since this book target audiences are those in that age range.

As for my own 5 years old son, he found difficulty understanding this book. I encouraged him to discuss what his opinions about the story. We reread this book so many times to finally aligned his takes on the story with mine. We concluded that this book mainly quest was to not hold anger. You definitely can get mad at someone and/or something but you need to let it go in healthy ways so it's not eating you up from the inside. My son and I also believed that this book wants us to freely express what we feels.

I am not 100% sure whether what we (my son and I) think about the story and its messages are correct or not. This book was actually (really) hard to understand, even for me. Maybe it's just my comprehension that not in right level to understand this book. Either way, I definitely will reread this book in the future (with my son, of course) to get better understanding on everything going on in this book.

The illustrations were giving painting vibes. Full of soft colors that frankly kinda gloomy (and sad) for children books.

This book definitely is not the kind of children books I usually read to my son. But it was actually fun reading experience since this book opened up long discussion with my son.

Thank you to Beatrice Alemagna, Astra Publishing House, Hippo Park, and NetGalley for the ARC.

The ending argghhhhh!!!! Give me volume 2 now!!!!!

I watched and loved Marsupilami cartoon so much when I was little. I remember every Sunday morning, me and my sister patiently waiting for Marsupilami on national TV channel. Safe to say that watching Marsupilami cartoon is one of my core memories. That's why I was so intrigued by this book. And what a different the story was between the cartoon I know and this book.

Personally I loved the storyline so much. I hated that François, his mother, and Longtail (the Marsupilami) had really tough life, but the storyline that brought them together was so well delivered albeit sad and heartbreaking. I really can't wait to read the next volume because the ending in this book was totally a cliffhanger. I curious on how the author would turn the story around and I really hope François, his mother, and Longtail got their deserved happy ending.

The illustrations were superb. I loved them so much. Perfectly fit with the gritty storyline and the background time of 1950s.

Thank you to Zidrou, Oni Press, Magnetic Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.

That was fun!

Brume reminded me so much of Masha from Masha and The Bear (Russian preschool animated comedy series). Like Masha, Brume so energetic kid. She was annoyingly cute and (over) confident.

This book is the second volume of Brume adventure. Despite me have not reading the first volume, I caught up with the storyline easily.

For me the storyline was good and adventurous, percent for young readers. However, I spotted one big plot hole. At the beginning, Brume said she couldn't read. But in the library, she perfectly could read one of the book. Even my 5 years old son spotted that plot hole when I read this book to him.

The ending has open-ending which indicates more adventure for Brume. I definitely would love to read more of them.

Thank you to Jérôme Pélissier, Astra Publishing House, Hippo Park, and NetGalley for the ARC.

That was good!!!

I knew nothing about The Sixth Gun before this one, I didn't realize that this book is special edition to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the OG comic. I definitely will read the OG version because I already invested in the storyline.

The illustrations were good and radiating boldness that completely fit the story. The illustrations were also full of details and I loved it. Those details in illustrations really helped me to understand the storylines better.

There were so many characters in this book and to be honest I was kinda overwhelmed by them. Again, I was glad that the illustrations were detailed so I could remember each character quite quickly. It also helped that eventhough there were many of them, each one had completely different personality.

The book ended with cliffhanger ending which I completely understood. Hence I said I will definitely read the original version, soon I hope.

Thank you to Cullen Bunn, Brian Hurtt, Oni Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.

I got this book for my 5 years old son since he loves anything related to animals. He certainly loves ducks.

This book was so informative about ducks. Simple yet educational information about ducks I myself didn't know. I always for my son because of him I feel like everyday I learn something new.

Not only giving facts about ducks, this book also provides activities regarding those ducks information. One of my son favorites was (is) the waterproof ducks wings experiment.

The illustrations were cute and helped my son to understand each ducks funfact better. The illustrations were colorful yet still giving soothing vibes.

Thank you to Siski Kalla, Catch a Leaf Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Wow! The story, the characters, and the illustration style were so dark and I couldn't stop reading until it finished. The story and the illustrations grabbed me so tight. So different with I usually read but I am so glad I read this graphic novel.

This book perfectly blended history, culture, mystic, horror, and even romance into solid storyline. The plots were also so well delivered. Though there were some plot holes and unanswered questions, the story was so good from the beginning until the end.

I personally liked the ending. It was unavoidable. Unfair for some characters but completely make sense. Realistic even.

The characters were so unlikeable but I still root for them. They were weirdly realistic though I never wish any kids in this world experience what underage characters in this book went through. They were only kids for f sake but they went to hell and back. It was honestly hard for me to read their scenes. I know that back then life was freaking hard and kids matured quickly, yet my heart broken for them.

Thank you to Zhang Xiaoyu, Oni Press, Magnetic Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.

That was different yet refreshing to read!

The story was about "beast" attacking Taru's village and Taru tried to solve that without killing the "beast". At the same time, there was Hana, someone completely different from Taru and her tribe, as village's prisoner. Taru was appointed to "guide" Hana and from there their friendship (and more) formed, followed with their "adventures" to solve the "beast" problem.

I don't know why but the illustrations reminded me so much of the movie "Warcraft" eventhough the story was completely different. Maybe because Taru and her people looked like orc to me.

The storyline was solid and unpredictable, at least for me. While there were quite many unexplained background stories, for me the ending was also make sense.

Thank you to Léo Schilling, Oni Press, Magnetic Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.

What a creepy, heartbroken yet meaningful story!

I always loved middle-grade graphic novels, but this one was different than light sweet ones I usually read. This graphic novel was (so) dark. Full of metamorphic underlying meanings.

This book still has the same self love messages normal middle-grade books usually deliver. But in this one, those messages wrapped up in twisty ways of storylines. Everything would unfold in the end of the book and it was so realistic. I loved that the characters still got the consequences of what they did (wrong) and at the same time their characters were also growing and living (happily).

The illustrations were so good. Detailed and the style fit the storylines so well.

The illustrations perfectly conveyed the creepy horror vibes from the story but also still maintained the easiness and playfulness of middle-graders.

Thank you to Jim Bishop, Oni Press, Magnetic Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.

3,75 stars rounded-up to 4 stars!

"Villainous evildoers, beware! As quickly as the sound of punk music fills the room, the heroes race to rescue!"

That was fun! Light and easy to read and understand. The playlist was so good tho! I rarely listen to punk songs, but the playlist provided in this book was also easy to listen for me who almost never listen to punk songs.

The idea of superhero who fights monsters with music player, recorder, and punk songs was so refreshing, at least for me. Even more because the characters in this book were middle-graders.

Not only about punk stuff, the storylines were also heavy on friendship and loving who you are and what you love to do. Being different is totally fine and it certainly not bad.

However I also slightly disagree with the kids being so rebellious. Fortunately this book also drew lines, albeit slightly, between self-worth and rebellious. I hope the young readers could read between the lines while reading this book.

The writing style was witty and fit with middle-graders vibes. Same goes with the illustrations. Fun and playful with details that fit the overall vibes of the book. I don't know why but the illustrations kinda reminded me of Astro Boy style of illustration.

Thank you to Mirtes Santana, Oni Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.

What a chaos! Full blast of chaotic young adults dramas!

I am not sure how realistic the story was but for me some parts were realistic enough and showed the real-life confusion young adults often felt. Mostly in terms of self worth.

There were many layers in the storylines. Each characters had their own struggles and honestly I felt overwhelmed reading them. The illustrations didn't help much, even made me more overwhelmed with so many details going on and choice of colors.

At the end of the story, I felt really sad for Jerry. Dude was in freaking collaborator-zone whatever was that. Damn! Being in friend-zone is already bad, but he got another level of it into collaborator-zone. Hannah was so mean to him for real. I understand why she was like that but she was really abusing Jerry in their (not)relationship. I still can't get over how she somehow named their (not)relationship as "collaborator".

So many vulnerable moments showed by each characters in this book and those were my favorites. They were not having perfect images and that was completely fine and realistic.

Thank you to Dave Baker, Nicole Goux, IDW Publishing, Top Shelf Productions, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Godzilla + aliens + all kind of kaijus + secret society = this book

Though the title is Godzilla, I felt like Godzilla is not the main story of this book. Godzilla was just side characters since the aliens were the focus.

So many things going on in terms of story and characters (?) I am glad I am (kinda) familiar with godzilla and kaiju universe so I didn't get overwhelmed with many kaijus popping up (almost) endlessly.

The subplot of secret society who protects the knowledge of extraterrestrial stuff was really good, at least for me. I wish it got explore more. Maybe in other books 🤞🏻

The writing style was witty and easy to understand. Though some parts contained too much information at once.

The illustrations were good and fit the vibe of the story. They also helped (me) understand the story better. The style reminded me of the "OG" godzilla animation I used to watch when I was little.

Thank you to Frank Tieri, IDW Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC.

This YA book was so good! So relatable with nowadays life.

The story is about how social media affected the lives of the children of so called "influencers" and/or "content creators". How these teenagers felt their privacy and mental health were disturbed by their own parents just for likes and brand offers.

I loved how real the characters in this book were. I also loved how diverse they were all. Definitely perfect setting and background for YA books.

The illustrations were also eye pleasing. So cheerful and youthful, YOLO kind of vibes.

The ending was realistic yet still meaningful. Told you this book is so realistic I loved it so much.

Thank you to Jennie Wood, Mad Cave Studios, Maverick, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Collection of short stories about Godzilla attacks in the cities of the America. Most of the stories were not centered on Godzilla. Godzilla mostly just in the background and the stories unfolded around the attacks.

Simple and quick reading. So short yet almost all of them had solid ending.

I mostly liked the illustrations. But some of them were difficult to read, I think due to the words formatting.

Thank you to Tim Seeley, Caroline Cash, Gabriel Hardman, Dave Baker, Jesse Lonergan, IDW Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC.

That was fun and informative reading!

This book presented one random funfact/trivia every day for one year in 366 days calendar format.

The trivia was so random from science, animals, prehistoric history, famous people, silly activities, and many more. However, I think the author loved fart and poop related stuff because there were many funfacts about fart and poop in this book 🤣

I could read some of the trivia to my 5 years old son. Mostly animals related. The words used were simple enough though some of them still needed to be simplified.

The writing style was funny and witty. Though some were also too cringe for my likes.

Thank you to Mike Rampton, Cider Mill Press, Applesauce Press, and NetGalley for the ARC.